#2: Spin Spin by Gordon Lightfoot

City: Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Radio Station: CJIC
Peak Month: October 1966
Peak Position in Sault Ste. Marie ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Spin Spin”
Lyrics: “Spin Spin”

Gordon Meridith Lightfoot Jr. was born in Orillia, Ontario, on November 17, 1938. His parents, Jessica and Gordon Lightfoot Sr., ran a dry cleaning business. His mother noticed young Gordon had some musical talent and the boy soprano first performed in grade four at his elementary school. He sang the Irish lullaby “Too Ra Loo Rah Loo Rah” at a parents’ day. As a member of the St. Paul’s United Church choir in Orillia, Lightfoot gained skill and needed confidence in his vocal abilities under the choir director, Ray Williams. Lightfoot went on to perform at Toronto’s Massey Hall at the age of twelve when he won a competition for boys who were still boy sopranos. During his teen years Gordon Lightfoot learned to play piano, drums and guitar.

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#1: The More I See You by Peter Allen

City: Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Radio Station: CJIC
Peak Month: September 1976
Peak Position in Sault Set. Marie ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #108
YouTube: “The More I See You”
Lyrics: “The More I See You”

Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough in 1944, in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia. His father was a soldier in WWII and became a violent alcoholic on return from the war. Peter Allen’s performing career began when he was 11, playing the piano in the ladies’ lounge of the New England Hotel in Armidale. At the age of fourteen, Peter’s father committed suicide, which devastated the family. In 1959, he met Chris Bell and they formed a duo called The Allen Brothers. At this time Peter Woolnough took the surname ‘Allen’ as his stage name: Peter Allen. Within a year, they were based in Sydney performing on the Australian music television program Bandstand. In 1964, Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered The Allen Brothers while they were performing in Hong Kong. They became Judy Garland’s opening act when she toured. In 1964 he met Liza Minelli, and with Judy Garland’s encouragement, the couple married in 1967. But they got a divorce in 1970.

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